Returning XFL adds Pollack to heavyweight leadership

American football - 23 Jan 2019

Author: Jonathan Rest

The XFL, the American football league that is to make its return next year, has named Jeffrey Pollack as its president and chief operating officer, and is in talks with national network Fox and cable sports broadcaster ESPN about showing the games.

Pollack (pictured) will oversee the league’s strategic planning and business operations, as well as the management of its eight teams.

He joins from the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, where he was chief marketing and strategy officer and special advisor.

Pollack will work closely with Oliver Luck, a former NFL quarterback and experienced sports administrator, who was appointed XFL commissioner and chief executive in June.

The XFL disbanded after just one season in 2001, but it is to return in 2020 thanks to main backer Vince McMahon, the chairman and chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment.

McMahon is investing $100 million of his own money into the revived XFL, but it will not be directly connected to WWE, instead being operated through a separate company called Alpha Entertainment.

According to reports in USA, McMahon is negotiating XFL rights deals with ESPN and Fox, which will be the US broadcast home of WWE SmackDown Live from October. If a deal is inked with ESPN, some games would be shown on national network ABC.

On Pollack's hire, McMahon said: "Just as Oliver Luck is perfectly suited to be commissioner and CEO, so too is Jeffrey Pollack suited perfectly to be XFL president and COO with his extraordinary experience and diverse background across a variety of global sports properties. I have no doubt that Oliver and Jeffrey will successfully reimagine the game of football and guide the XFL to long-term success."

Pollack counts the NBA, Nascar, World Series of Poker and the Professional Bull Riders as former employers.

The XFL will launch next year in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Washington D.C.

It will have a rival in the shape of Alliance of American Football, which has the backing of several sports industry executives and is to air on CBS, when it launches next month.

The AAF has been co-founded by Charlie Ebersol, a film producer and the son of NBC heavyweight Dick Ebersol, who was also behind the original XFL.